Skipping Class

However...

Just as Che Li Zao Miao was about to turn and leave, he suddenly noticed the back of the classroom...

There were two people without desks.

One was Guo Shuai, sitting on a broken chair, his face green.

The other was Xiang Nu Ji Er, who had snatched the last broken chair and was now curled up in a ball.

Thud! Thud!

The ground trembled.

Dragging his enormous body, Che Li Zao Miao walked step by step toward Xiang Nu Ji Er.

He lowered his head, and his massive shadow completely engulfed the sleazy-looking boy.

The foul, hot breath blowing from his mouth ruffled the boy's hair.

"Hey, student..."

"Where's your desk?"

Xiang Nu Ji Er trembled like a leaf, his teeth chattering. How could he dare answer?

At this life-or-death moment, his mind went blank, and he once again unleashed the ultimate move engraved in the blood of every Cherry Blossom Country Person!

Dogezuo!

Thump!

He dropped to his knees, slammed his forehead against the floor, and shouted,

"Sumimasen!! Hontou ni sumimasen!!"

He prayed frantically in his heart: Please forgive me!

Those corrupt lawmakers and businesspeople who falsified their books on TV were all forgiven after bowing and apologizing!

As long as I'm sincere enough, it'll let me go!

However...

Expectations were rosy, but reality was harsh.

Not every ghost had such a good temper.

Che Li Zao Miao stretched his gaping maw.

"If apologies worked... what would we need the Dean of Students for?"

"No desk... that's against the School Rule!"

"You'll be punished!!"

Before the words had even left his mouth—

Graaah!

His cavernous maw snapped open, and he swallowed Xiang Nu Ji Er, still kneeling on the floor, head and upper body in one bite!

Splurt!

The lower half twitched feebly twice, then fell to the ground.

"Burp~"

Che Li Zao Miao chewed with satisfaction, then turned his gaze toward his next target: Guo Shuai.

"Holy crap..."

Guo Shuai's face turned green in an instant—greener than a cuckold's hat.

Trembling, he turned toward Jiangnan beside him, his eyes full of desperate pleading.

"Boss... save me!"

"What the hell am I supposed to do?"

He'd rested for a while and recovered a bit of his Mana Bar!

But that thing looked tougher than an armored vehicle. There was no way he could break through its defenses!

Jiangnan had his eyes closed, resting. The noise was starting to annoy him.

He reached up and peeled the Memo Paper off his face, shooting Guo Shuai a cold look.

Slap.

The next second, a fresh piece of Memo Paper was stuck to Guo Shuai's face, which was practically covered in the word "miserable."

[Think about what those ghosts did.]

[Do I really have to teach you something this simple, idiot?]

Guo Shuai froze for a second when he saw the message.

What had the ghosts done?

The Eyeless Ghost had taken a desk...

The Flat-headed Ghost had taken a desk too...

"Snatch a seat!!"

Guo Shuai suddenly saw the light!

Only then did he realize this was a Rule-based Horror!

As long as he got a desk, he'd qualify as a "good student," and the monsters wouldn't be able to attack him!

But...

Guo Shuai looked at the Cherry Blossom Country students trembling in the front rows.

He could kill monsters, no problem. They were a different kind of creature.

But killing people...

Killing someone of his own kind with his own hands just to survive...

Guo Shuai clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

He could be ruthless to himself, but this was the first time he'd ever laid a hand on a living person.

His psychological defenses wavered violently.

"Roar..."

Beside him, Che Li Zao Miao had already swallowed Xiang Nu Ji Er. His blood-dripping mouth was now closing in on Guo Shuai.

The shadow of death loomed overhead.

"Damn it! Screw it!"

Guo Shuai gritted his teeth and cursed himself.

"In the apocalypse, human hearts are far more dangerous than monsters! These Cherry Blossom Country people tried to kill us before!"

"If you don't even dare kill the wicked! If you don't even dare kill the Japanese Pirates!"

"Then what face do you have to meet China's Pioneers? What right do you have to follow the boss?!"

"Die!!"

Cursing himself in his heart, Guo Shuai sprang into action.

He quickly scanned the classroom and locked onto a target.

It was a Cherry Blossom Country boy with dyed yellow hair and a face full of gristle!

Even through his fear, he looked vicious.

He had the face of a school bully who spent his days picking on the weak.

"You'll do!"

"The Old Ancestor said that your looks reflect your heart! I can tell at a glance you're no good!"

Guo Shuai hesitated no longer. He sprang up from his chair and charged at the yellow-haired boy.

"Baka! What do you think you're doing?!"

The boy was horrified.

"Just borrowing your desk!"

Guo Shuai roared, grabbed him by the collar, and shoved him to the ground!

The boy hadn't even processed what was happening. He was just about to get up and fight back when—

"Wind Pressure!!"

Guo Shuai stretched out his left hand and covered his right eye. He didn't have much of his Mana Bar left, but he bet it all in one go!

Boom!!

A violent downward gust erupted over the boy!

"Pfft!"

The boy didn't even get a scream out before his ribs and internal organs were crushed beneath the pressure!

He was flattened like a lump of mud beneath a hydraulic press.

"Hah... hah..."

Guo Shuai gasped for breath, staring at the corpse on the floor as he fought back the churning in his stomach.

"I didn't leave you alive to be fed to the monster and feel yourself getting chewed up... I gave you a quick death."

"I did everything I could."

"Next life... be a good person."

With that, Guo Shuai dropped into the bloodstained chair and clung tightly to the desk.

"Hmph..."

Che Li Zao Miao gave a disappointed twitch of his great horse-like lips at the sight.

The rules prevented him from attacking students who had desks.

So he had to settle for the next best thing. He lowered his head and devoured the remains of the corpse on the floor.

Then, burping, he slowly bumped open the back door and left the classroom.

The crisis was over.

Liu Yuqing, sitting in the front row, breathed a sigh of relief.

She glanced back at Che Li Zao Miao's departing figure, then turned toward Yu Shishi, who sat beside her, frozen in her seat.

"Not bad, Shishi."

Liu Yuqing patted her on the shoulder with approval.

"Looks like you've gotten a lot braver after following the boss for so long."

"That scene was terrifying, but you didn't make a sound or scream. You've made some progress—you didn't embarrass the boss."

However...

Liu Yuqing got no response.

Yu Shishi was still sitting bolt upright, eyes wide open and staring straight ahead.

"Hmm?"

Liu Yuqing frowned. "Shishi? What's wrong? Say something!"

She leaned closer and studied her carefully.

Then, she couldn't stop the corner of her mouth from twitching.

Yu Shishi's eyes were open, but her pupils had completely rolled back, leaving only broad swaths of white.

Her breathing was faint, and her body was rigid.

"Holy crap..."

Liu Yuqing pressed a hand to her forehead, speechless.

"So you actually got scared unconscious?!"

"Fainting with your eyes open... now that's a talent!"

At the lectern.

The crisis had passed, but class still had to go on.

The black pen holder still stood silently on the teacher's desk, radiating an ominous aura.

Chen Tong looked at it and drew a deep breath, having already made up her mind.

"Don't be scared... don't be scared..."

"With Jiangnan here... everything will be all right!"

Chen Tong had no idea where she got the confidence.

But whenever she thought of that man, of his domineering protection—

and that brief but unforgettable...

intimate love...

Chen Tong's cheeks suddenly grew warm.

"Ugh! What am I thinking, Chen Tong?! This is a matter of life and death!"

She silently berated herself for losing focus, then steeled her gaze.

She reached out with a trembling hand, closed her eyes, and grabbed the pen holder.

Clatter, clatter...

After a brief rattling, something fell from the pen holder onto the desk.

Chen Tong quickly opened her eyes and picked it up.

Four characters had been carved into it in blood.

[Sakuragi Shita]

Then she cleared her throat and called out,

"Which one of you is Sakuragi Shita?"

"Please stand up and answer the question."

Below the stage.

Sitting in the back row, Yekaterina sighed and gazed wistfully at Jiangnan, who was still asleep.

"What a heartless man."

"That poor Red-haired Woman—she's his woman, isn't she?"

"She might be in danger any moment now, and he can still sleep?"

"I really don't know... why the bloodline inside me is so restless because of him."

Yekaterina pressed a hand to her chest. There, a powerful heart was pounding fiercely.

It wasn't the feeling of falling in love.

For some reason, it was the Dragon Bloodline trembling.

"Strange..."

Just as she was wondering about it,

Teacher Chen Tong had already called that name three times from the lectern.

"Student Sakuragi Shita? Are you here?"

"Sakuragi Shita?"

However,

no one in the classroom stood up.

The Eyeless Ghost was playing with its fingers, the Flat-headed Ghost was staring blankly, and the Ghost Infant was still, too.

"How... could this be?"

Yekaterina's beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.

"Where's the ghost?"

"That's obviously the name of a ghost student! Where did the ghost go?"

"Does it not want to answer the question? Or..."

Just as everyone looked at one another, the atmosphere growing increasingly eerie and tense,

Bam!

The Black Pen Holder on the lectern suddenly turned into a puff of black smoke and vanished into thin air.

Immediately afterward,

several blood-red words appeared on the blackboard by themselves, announcing the absurd scene's conclusion.

[Notice: Student "Sakuragi Shita" skipped class without cause!]

[Question period concluded.]

[Determination: Since the person being questioned was absent, the teacher is not responsible.]

[Assessment passed!]

[Teacher Chen Tong's evaluation for this class: Perfect!]

[Reward: Overall Physical Fitness increased by one major realm (F→E)!]

Hummm!

A golden light instantly enveloped Teacher Chen Tong.

Her body, which had seemed somewhat frail, visibly grew taut and strong. Even her skin became fairer and more luminous.

"..."

Below the stage.

Yekaterina clutched her head with both hands, completely dumbfounded.

She looked at Teacher Chen Tong onstage, who was just as bewildered, as a herd of mud horses galloped through her mind.

"No way?!"

"That works?!"

"You can actually run into a ghost skipping class while teaching at the Ghost School?!"

"This woman's luck... is she cheating?!"